Magento: How to use the Import/Export Tool

The import/export tool is very useful within Magento. Being that there is limited documentation on the topic, I thought I would add my .02.

Basically you can use the import/export tool to do mass imports of products. It makes it much easier if you would like to add 50 products all at once, you would just create a csv or xml file with the matching fields for the database, add your information and then use the import tool to import the products. You can retrieve a sample csv or xml file, but doing an export.

Doing an export is very easy, and allows you to export all of your products out of your website. You might want to do this, if you are moving your website or need to reinstall or upgrade your website, and need to get the products out.

35 thoughts on “Magento: How to use the Import/Export Tool”

I just did this. I used some formulas in Excel to generate a list of similar simple products titles and descriptions based on various combinations of attributes like size and shapes of the product.
The import said it processed 0% of them but I do see them in my store now.

I was having trouble with Excel editing / magento importing. Mainly due to:
– Excel putting quotes around some fields
– I had the 'Product Number' in import set to the number of products… This needs to be between 1 and 20… This solves the 0% thing. To solve Excel thing, I kept mucking around till I could import the CSV back into Excel with no problem:

– Excel puts quotes around some fields [eg. ,"some text with a, comma",]
– Some fields may have quotes or commas in

Logan
· October 2, 2009 at 5:40 am

tim
· October 11, 2009 at 2:17 am

I am trying to import 50 products into magento via XML. I havent seen any posts here that actually answer this question. Does anyone know how to do it…. step by step? Thank you in advance for your consideration…. it's much appreciated.

Zoey
· November 26, 2009 at 8:19 am

James
· January 7, 2010 at 11:28 pm

Hi,

There is a 'smart' software product by http://www.magdeveloper.com that offers some great software to bulk import thousands of products from any wholesaler via CSV files.

From their website:
"
The universal product importer allows to import any CSV file without worrying about modifying the Magento Database. It’s universal format allows you to import product data from any whole seller. It's powerful re-use capabilities allows users to use the software over and over again on a wide range of data feeds.

The converted data (MS XML format) can be uploaded automatically once the conversion is completed. It's user-friendly usage allows anybody to use it. The universal product has been tested on a wide variety of shops.

It’s a perfect solution to automatic update product data and add the data into your Magento based shop. "

You should check it out if you want to do large conversions of products. It handles all kinds of problems with the CSV columns of wholesalers very well and also has options to add a markup price…

i just reviewed the "recommend" extension from magdeveloper but after further review the extension is actually kind of a hack. Im not sure why the developer would take the time to make a "conversion" program when magento support "product mappings" already and why not just use magento to handle this on the fly instead of creating a second step? makes no sense. Also the documentation is lacking and there is no mention of all the additional needed options like tier pricing and custom options / configurable products etc. If you are looking for a true product import/export extension and don't want to waste time you can get it for 1/2 the price of the one above and it does 5x more.http://www.commerceextensions.com/magento-product…

James
· May 11, 2010 at 2:19 pm

Hello
I found this nice software that allows you to edit your imported and exported files in a nice program. This guy is writting it him self and sharing it. It seems promising and hes adding things like image auto resize, auto upload and all sorts.
I use this program sometimes when im sick of looking at excell. its not perfect but it does help sometimes http://magentobridge.myfreeforum.org/sutra7.php#7

Those who can't find the file location it's probably because you have not yet exported the products.

Once on "profile wizard" choose the settings you want then "save profile". After that, you must go to the "Run Profile" tab on the left side and click on "Run Profile in Popup". After doing this you should be able to see the path var/export on your server.http://www.designincontrast.com

We released the bèta version to import products into magento through webservices, please feel free to take a look at http://www.magento-importer.com. We are planning to release the release v 1.0 in the next weeks…

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